Music Week yesterday reported that Guy Hands, the boss of new EMI owners Terra Firma, has spoken to employees at the major record company for the first time, telling them that his private equity firm is committed to EMI for the long term, and denying the continuing rumours that the finance outfit will quickly sell out to Warner Music for a handsome profit.
Despite expectations that Hands will oversee a radical restructure at EMI, which will inevitably lead to job losses, Music Week says the EMI employees it has spoken to were generally positive of their first encounter with Hands, with one saying: "People went in feeling a little trepidation and concern, but they came out feeling a lot better. He was able to clarify a lot of the wilder rumours that have been going round and gave some certainty to people. People were pretty impressed with him. They thought he was very open. He made a big point of saying that he wants to engage with the staff and that went down very well".
Elsewhere in EMI news, the Times is reporting that the major's former Finance Director, Martin Stewart, missed out on a payoff worth £1 million when he left the company shortly after Terra Firma's takeover, seemingly because he resigned rather than being forced out like his colleague, former EMI chief Eric Nicoli, who will receive a reported £2.8 million severance package after his contract with the firm was terminated by its new owners. It's not clear why Stewart would resign knowing that he stood to earn such a big pay off if he was forced out. Neither Stewart nor Terra Firma have commented on the report.